“Watercolor paints and pen and ink are the tools to which I’ve always gravitated. I discovered a dark lovely bottle of ink and a nib pen when I was young, and I’ve been a fan ever since. Watercolors I picked up because they went with ink it seemed to me. I’ve been carrying around little watercolor sets since I was a child, and although as an adult I know that watercolors are hard, fast, and difficult to control, I nearly always find the colors pleasing, even if I think I’ve botched it.”     —Susan Lais Hostetler  

Susan Lais Hostetler is an award-winning painter who also has a knack for pen & ink. Her style is loose and fresh in her figure studies and fast-sketch art, and lovely in her landscapes and vintage barns—the latter often plein-air paintings. Resident of New York City for many years and long-resident of Hudson Valley, NY, and frequent visitor to North Carolina's Albemarle region, she is often inspired by light and shapes during hikes along the Hudson River and local and upstate parks (Adirondacks), and east coast watersides from Maine to Florida.    

Exhibits and Awards: Susan was accepted at the 123rd Annual Open Exhibition at the National Art Club on Gramercy Park, NYC, through the Catherine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club, and was the recipient of their highest watercolor honor: the 2020 Edgar A. Whitney Memorial Prize. She was accepted at the historic Salmagundi Art Club of New York City juried 2019 annual open painting exhibit, as well as exhibiting in 2020 with the National Association of Women Artists (NAWA) in midtown Manhattan. She won two first prizes at the Wallisch Homestead Annual Art Show in New Jersey, and was juried in as a life-long member to the National Association of Women Artists. Master watercolorist Joseph Zbukvic juried Susan's painting "Comes the Day" for exhibit acceptance to San Diego Watercolor Society's 5th Annual Plein Air Exhibition 2021. Susan was juried into the Summer TriAnnual Exhibition of the San Diego Watercolor Society. She was accepted into the Juried Catherine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club’s Associates/ Members 2022 Satellite Show at the Ridgewood Art Institute, NJ.   

Susan’s painting “Boscobel Poppies” won 3rd Place in watercolor in the 21st Annual St Francis Festival of the Arts, New Jersey, in the Spring of 2022. Susan’s painting “Posing Bold” was seen at the HMVC Gallery of NYC’s online curated show Awake. “Black-Eyed Correspondents” was in 2022 national juried 80th Annual Exhibition of the Audubon Artists.   

Her painting “Stormy Days” was exhibited at New York City’s Tribeca gallery, One Art Space, in late 2022 when she won the Elizabeth Morse Genius Foundation Award. (See below for recent & current juried shows.)   

Susan has participated in many art member’s annual exhibits as well as juried exhibits regionally, nationally, and internationally. Aside from juried exhibits, her paintings and prints can be found at the historic waterfront Edenton NC gallery, in restaurants and shops, and in private collections across the country, especially California and New York.   

Most Current Years:  Susan won a Finalist Award at the Art Show International Gallery 2023 (online) January Animal theme with dog portrait “I’m Good, You?” as well as a Finalist Award in the 5th Figurative International Juried Art Competition 2023, and for Still Life with “Chaos Bottled” and “Pink Boscobel.” Her painting “Posing Bold” was exhibited in the juried show at the Wallkill River Center for the Arts, Montgomery NY, Mixed Media/Collage Show, Spring 2023. Susan also won Honorable Mention Award at the 22nd Festival of the Arts of St Francis of Assisi in New Jersey for “Adirondacks Alpha Tree.” In Spring 2023, Susan won a Community Art Association of NY/NJ (CAA) prize award for her “Summer Light” painting. Susan had her second solo show at Sidewalk Bistro Gallery Rooms in Piermont, “Her Nature: Connections.” NY Winter and Spring 2023. In the Summer she won Honorable Mention for Teravarna International Juried Color Competition for “Nature Explosion: Zinnias.” She was selected as a Juried Artist at the Hudson Valley Plein Air Festival, with the Wallkill River Center for the Arts, Fall 2023. In 2024, Gallery 4 Percent gave “Pink Poppies at Boscobel” an award of Distinction in their art contest, and “Marina Day’s End” won Tervarna’s Honorable Mention in the Open International Online Juried Art Competition.   

And in 2024 participated in an Edward Hopper House & Museum Study’s juried exhibit, and juried in to the summer exhibit at the San Diego Watercolor Society, their annual Plein Air Exhibit, with master Juror Shuang Li. Susan was selected to feature nearly 40 of her paintings in the Autumn 2024 Show at the Pomona Cultural Center, NY; and was selected to be a part of the Autumn 2024 figurative exhibit “Humans 24” at the famed Salmagundi Art Club in NYC. Accepted into the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club 127th Annual Open Exhibition Nov-Dec 2024 at Salmagundi on 5th Avenue at 12th Street. In 2025, her "Winter on the River" painting was accepted in the Salmagundi Art Club's juried exhibit "Winter Palette" January show. Currently Summer 2025 “Winter Sky” is hanging in the special annual Plein Air Exhibit of the San Diego Watercolor Society gallery rooms.      

Susan has taught beginner watercolor classes for adults and in recent years has held plein air painting sessions at her home and one-on-one lessons. She is also known for her dignified likeness-captures of pet portraits. See her website, (SusanLaisHostetler.com) for more on dog portraits, and for her published article on painting in public outside spaces during a pandemic, “My Private Art: Confessions of an Introverted Painter.” (Susan’s Instagram & Facebook account can be found @SusanLaisHostetler)